I Know Your Little Secret

Part One: In Which There's A Bad Man With A Gun

Peter was exhausted.

He had been out protecting the people of Queens four days in a row, which means little to no sleep and too many class assignments for him to finish this Friday when he planned on drinking a few too many energy drinks and stay up all night while writing essays on Niels Bohr's quantum mechanics theories and Romeo And Juliet.

He was, in fact, so exhausted that he had been close to falling asleep quite a few times. Luckily for him though, his best friend Ned had almost every class with him on Thursdays.

So every time it looked like Peter was about to doze off, Ned had blown into his ear.

Blowing a person in their ear is the most horrible thing to ever happen, so Peter did not have to experience it more than three times to try harder at staying awake.

He had been so focused on not collapsing into his notes that he didn't hear the heavy footsteps from the corridor getting closer and closer to his classroom.

His spidey-senses hadn't told him anything until he could hear the click of a gun right outside his classroom door, and a silent "Here we go," before someone kicked the door open, causing some of the students to scream.

The teacher immediately stopped her tutoring and yelled: "Get down!".

Everyone fell from their seats and hid under their tables. Some were silently praying, some were holding in their cries. And Peter? He was giving Ned the "I'm gonna do something stupid" look and was about to stand up but was forced to stay down by his best friend. Before he could send another look, the gunman spoke.

"PETER. PARKER!" The man's threatening voice echoed from the door as he walked with heavy steps into the classroom

Peter could feel the daggering eyes from all his terrified classmates hit him. His whole body was cold like a winter breeze had just flown in through the window even though winter had come to an end two months ago. Ned reached out and held Peter's hand, giving him something warm to hold on to.

When nobody answered the man's angry call for the kid, he went and grabbed the closest student to him and yanked him up by the collar.

Flash screamed and tried to struggle away from the grip but immediately froze when the man pointed the gun at his head. Silent sobs from the student were now the only sound to be heard in the room. But of course, the gunman ended the quiet.

"Get up now or I swear to god I will shoot his brains out!"

A sharp intake of breath could be heard, followed by more sobs from Eugene.

Peter looked frightened at Ned, who gave the same facial expression back. He knew what had to be done. He knew something was wrong. He could feel it in his guts. But now was not the time for Peter to hesitate. Now was the time for him to act.

So he shook his hand, making Ned lose his grip and stood up to face the shooter. His hand held onto the table.

The man let go of Flash as he started talking.

"There you are. Wasn't so hard to get on your fucking feet, huh?"

Peter took a deep breath of air before asking: "What do you want?"

The man walked closer to Peter. Too close. Peter tried to step back but was met with the wall. The man grabbed him by the neck and whispered into his ear: "I know your little secret."Peter gasped and tried to wriggle out of the grip, but was met with an even stronger strangle. It was getting harder for him to breathe.

"You got me," Peter tried to say, but the lack of available oxygen in his lungs didn't exactly make it easy. "My big secret. My favorite Harry Potter movie isn't Prisoner Of Azkaban."

The man did not seem pleased with Peter's comment since he punched the kid in his stomach, making him couch and let out a small unintentional whining sound.

"Did you know your old pal Toomes talk in his sleep?"

He was met with no answer from the boy who was struggling to breathe under his grip, so he angrily threw him at a desk. Once Peter slid over the desk and fell on the ground, he tried to breathe between his coughs.

But before Peter could get his breath back to normal, he was grabbed and thrown again. But now, instead of falling on a table, he immediately hit the floor, causing all of his remaining breath to be pushed out of him. He could feel a hand on his shoulder, but his spidey-sense wasn't going crazy so he assumed it was someone he trusted.

Blinking his eyes open, he was met with the face of his teacher, who said something to him. His head was spinning and his breath was still struggling to come back, so he pretended to understand, gave a fake smile and nodded before getting grabbed by the leg and lifted into the air. He held onto the table beside him in a poor attempt to stay at the spot but had to let go before the table was in the air with him. So instead, he decided to try and force the man's hands away from him. To hell with his secret identity, student lives were at stake.

Once he fell down to the ground again, Peter used one of his web shooters to try and wrap the gunman's hands together. But he only hit one hand and angered him even more.

"You little shit!" The man yelled and took his gun out. Without hesitation, he shot Peter in the leg, making the hero to scream.

Peter had never been shot before. He had been beaten, stabbed, thrown, strangled, but never shot. There had been some close calls, of course, but this was a first. And it scared the hell out of him.

He didn't know what to do.

This was so messed up.

Why isn't this just a normal school day?

Why me? Why here?

Am I gonna die?

Peter was so caught up in his own thoughts and pain that he didn't notice the man getting closer. He could barely hear him say "I will kill your family and friends slowly. I will make you watch as your mom and dad dies a slow and painful death, and I will-"

That was it.

Peter kicked the man on the legs, making him fall over. In less than a second, he was on top of the man. He started punching, but he could feel himself blacking out after the second hit and forced himself to get as far away as possible.

Before the world turned black for Peter, he heard the sound of recognizable repulsors and a crashing window. He could feel some shards dig into his skin and he think he groaned, but the dots dancing in his eyes made it harder to notice. He tried his best to stay awake, but he couldn't deny how good the emptiness felt, and when his hearing was switched with a static sound and the bullet wound in his leg stopped hurting, he gave in to the sleep.

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Pages: four

Words: 1170

Written: May 21, 2019